1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with a support structure and specialized bracket designed for rotatably supporting reels of electrical wire or the like. More particularly, it is concerned with such a support structure and bracket therefor which are especially configured for supporting a reel of electrical wire between adjacent studs during construction of a house or other building in order to allow the wire to be unwound as desired during wiring of the building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical wire or cable used in wiring houses or other buildings is sold in large reels in lengths of, for example, one thousand feet. As can be appreciated, such large reels are extremely bulky and difficult to handle. To give but one example, a one thousand foot reel of 12/2 grounded Romex wire weighs approximately one hundred pounds. Thus, in order to be efficiently used, such large reels of wire must be mounted and supported so that desired lengths of the wire can be easily removed from the reel.
Specialized, tripod-type reel-supporting constructions have been proposed in the past. However, these units suffer from the drawbacks of relative costliness and the bulky, unwieldy nature thereof. As can be appreciated, in order to adequately support relatively heavy wire reels, freestanding support units of this type must be heavy and bulky themselves.
Another expedient resorted to in the past is to simply drive large nails into adjacent studs, and mount a reel-supporting pipe thereon. This is less than optimum because of the inherent lack of strength of the construction, and the tendency of the reel to fall during unwinding of wire therefrom.
It will also be recognized that a successful wire reel support structure must adequately support the wire reel even in the event that upwardly directed tensile force is exerted upon the reel, as would occur when a reel is located on a lower floor and an electrician on an upper floor pulls a section of wire from the reel. In like manner, sections of wire can be pulled from virtually any direction, and the support structure must of course withstand any such tensile loads.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,071 describes a wire dispenser of freestanding, tripod construction. A principal objection to units of the type described in this patent stems from their cost and relative bulkiness. Other prior U.S. patents describing support structures of various types include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,156,443, 3,902,568, and 141,498.